It is a prevailing practice in industry to use containers for shipping and storing quantities of input materials and finished products. Containers are frequently made from corrugated cardboard, chipboard, and plastics. The container contents are commonly cushioned with dunnage materials such as bubble wrap, packaging peanuts, and foamed polymeric materials. Many such containers and cushions are intended to be discarded after a single use by the end user receiving the contents. The disposal of these packaging materials raises waste disposal and environmental concerns, and the nature of these packaging systems can render them difficult to dispose in an environmentally sound manner.
In the semiconductor industry, many types of silicon wafer containers have been utilized. These containers typically are supposed to protect brittle silicon wafers, minimize contamination from particulates, and minimize static electricity buildup.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,536 describes a packaging container formed from two substantially identical parts for a plurality of circular recording media. This container is formed from foamed plastic by pressing, casting, injection molding or deep drawing. The parts have a multitude of teeth that tightly interfit upon assembly of the container. However, integral means for holding the container parts together are not disclosed. A cylindrical central holder is used to support the recording media.
G.B. 2293816 A describes a carrier for wafers that includes a method of cushioning. The carrier assembly uses three different parts.
E.P. 0789393 A1 describes a semiconductor wafer container made with a main body and a lid body that are not of similar shapes. The two parts are detachably fixed together by turning the lid body to align protrusions of the main body with slots in the lid body.
U.S. Pat. 5,780,127 describes a dimensionally stable and static dissipative carrier for semiconductor wafers. Three different parts are used to enclose the wafers for shipping.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,082 describes a three-piece wafer container using a top portion, a bottom portion, and separately molded wafer support columns. A separate side handle secures the molded portions together.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,823 describes a parallelepipedal storage container formed from two substantially identical foldable rectangular halves. This container is formed by folding each half into the shape of a U, and sliding and securing the two halves together. The container may be blow-molded for a double-wall construction, or alternatively, injection molded.